East Africa appears prominently at the top of Africa's criminality rankings, with Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Madagascar highlighted in the top 20. This shows that East African countries are among Africa’s most crime-exposed states, with Kenya at 7.2, Uganda at 6.7, and Sudan and Somalia at 6.6.
The 2025 Africa Organised Crime Index says criminality tends to thrive in fragile and conflict-affected environments, and that there is a fairly strong correlation between criminality and state fragility. This explains why conflict-exposed countries such as the DR Congo, Sudan, Somalia, and South Sudan rank high, while more stable and institutionally stronger countries tend to cluster lower.
